Criticism for new leader

Criticism for new leader

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s media criticized South Korea’s new president for the first time since his inauguration in a blistering rebuke, warning today that Seoul’s pro-U.S. policies could lead to “irrevocable catastrophic consequences.” The lengthy article in the North’s main Rodong Sinmun daily came amid a series of provocations by the communist nation that have stoked tensions on the divided peninsula. Last week, North Korea test-fired missiles and ejected South Korean officials from a shared industrial zone. Over the weekend, a North Korean military commentator threatened to turn the South into “ashes” in a pre-emptive strike, responding to comments by a South Korean military commander that Seoul could target suspected North Korean nuclear sites if there were signs of a pending attack from Pyongyang.

Jordanian queen on Net

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s media-savvy Queen Rania has launched an appeal on YouTube for a global dialogue to dismantle stereotypes of Muslims and the Arab world, the royal palace said Monday. Rania vowed to work to break down such preconceptions and wants people to “know the real Arab world ... unedited, unscripted and unfiltered.” Her YouTube page invites viewers to give their opinions of the Middle East and talk about stereotyped images that they may have of Arabs and Muslims. In the palace statement, Rania was quoted as saying she wanted young people everywhere “to see the personal side of my region, to know the places and faces and rituals and culture that shape the part of the world I call home.” Although traditionally conservative and tribal-oriented, Jordan strives for a degree of modernity that distinguishes it from some other countries in the Middle East.

Ruling on Diana’s death

LONDON — A coroner rejected a conspiracy theory in the death of Princess Diana on Monday, ruling there is no proof that Prince Philip or British secret agents had anything to do with the car crash that also killed her boyfriend Dodi Fayed. In instructions to the jury, Lord Justice Scott Baker left open the possibility that the couple’s driver and the paparazzi who pursued them through Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, caused the crash through recklessness. The panel was also asked to consider whether the crash was an accident. “There is no evidence that the Duke of Edinburgh ordered Diana’s execution and there is no evidence that the Secret Intelligence Service or any other government agency organized it,” Baker told the 11-member jury. Dodi Fayed’s father, Mohamed al Fayed, who pursued the conspiracy theory for a decade, was indignant as he left the Royal Courts of Justice. “It is terrible,” Al Fayed said. “It’s all biased.”

Medal of Honor ceremony

SAN DIEGO — An elite Navy SEAL who threw himself on top of a grenade in Iraq to save his comrades will be posthumously awarded the nation’s highest military tribute, a White House spokeswoman said Monday. The Medal of Honor will be awarded to Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. His family will receive the medal during a White House ceremony April 8. Monsoor is the fourth person to receive the honor since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Monsoor was part of a sniper security team in Ramadi with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi soldiers, according to a Navy account. An insurgent fighter threw the grenade, which struck Monsoor in the chest before falling in front of him. Monsoor then threw himself on the grenade, according to a SEAL who spoke to The Associated Press in 2006 on condition of anonymity because his work requires his identity to remain secret.

Fatal home invasion

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A sex offender recently released from prison brazenly invaded a home, shot two women meeting for morning coffee and abducted one of them, whose body was found about 10 miles away, police said. Leslie Williams, 31, told police that he entered the unlocked home Sunday morning looking for money and a car, but that when two women inside saw his face, he had no choice but to shoot them, according to an arrest warrant. Carol Larese, 65, was seriously wounded while her visiting friend, MaryEllen Welsh, 61, was abducted. According to the arrest warrant, Larese offered Williams $20 and Welsh gave him her car key, but Williams ordered the two into the basement and shot Larese. The warrant does not address the shooting of Welsh. Larese told police she pretended to be dead, then stayed in her basement for an hour to make sure the intruder had left. She went to a neighbor’s home across the street for help. “She just told me she was shot,” Teresa Diters said. “She was all full of blood from head to toe. I was amazed.”

Associated Press